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Nearly half respondents against revised Japan-U.S. defense guideline: poll

Xinhua, April 30, 2015 Adjust font size:

A latest poll result showed that nearly half of respondents were opposed to the revised Japan-U.S. defense guidelines announced earlier this week, local media reported Thursday.

According to the poll conducted by Japan's Kyodo News Agency, 47.9 percent respondents said they were against the guidelines, while only 35.5 percent support it.

Japan and the U.S. unveiled the new defense guideline on Monday, in which they agree to strengthen their bilateral alliance through the Japanese Self Defense Forces' (SDF) greater cooperation with the U.S. military by getting rid of geographical constraints for SDF activities and ensuring their forces can deal with the changing security environment in a "seamless" manner from peacetime to contingencies.

The revised guidelines triggered strong oppositions both in Japan and abroad. Hundreds of protestors have gathered in front of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's residence, criticizing that the new guidelines will drag Japan into war.

On Abe's bid to enact legislation for Japan to play a greater security role based on the revised guidelines, 48.4 percent were opposed to his bid during the ongoing parliamentary session through June, almost unchanged from the preceding survey.

Regarding Abe's landmark statement in August to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, 50.4 percent of the respondents said the prime minister should write Japan's "remorse and apology" for its past "colonial rule and aggression", which Abe omitted in his speeches to the U.S. congress and the Asian- African Summit in Indonesia.

The approving rate for Abe administration declined 2.7 percent from the previous survey to 52.7 percent, said Kyodo News. Endi